A mum who almost lost her twins when they were born 13 weeks early has thanked medical staff for her little miracles as the family look forward to celebrate their first Christmas together.

Sisters Sydnie-Blu and Darcie Kennedy look the picture of health dressed in their festive red outfits and smiling sweetly. But the pair have had the most traumatic start in life.

Mum Billie-Marie Carter gave birth at 27 weeks after the girls developed twin to twin transfusion syndrome, a disease of the placenta where one baby gets more nutrients than the other.

Billie-Marie was sent to see a specialist and a few weeks later had to undergo a procedure to reduce the amount of amniotic fluid around one of the babies which carried a 1% risk of early labour. Seven hours later, Billie-Marie was rushed to Medway hospital for an emergency caesarean section.

Darcie was born at 5.13am on February 22, weighing a tiny 1lb 13oz, followed by Sydnie-Blu three minutes later, weighing 2lb 13.oz

They were taken to the Oliver Fisher neonatal unit where they began their fight for survival. Meanwhile, Billie-Marie needed a blood transfusion because her uterus had torn.

She said: “I didn’t get to see my babies until the following morning. We couldn’t touch them for a week or have cuddles for two weeks with Sydnie-Blu and three weeks with Darcie. They were bruised from head to toe from the traumatic delivery and it was too painful for them.

“But those first cuddles were absolutely amazing. We were told to take every day as it came. No one could tell us everything would be OK – we just had to wait and hope that our babies would get stronger.

“Our girls went through so much. It was very hard seeing them fight for life and so tiny and fragile.”

After nine weeks on the ward, Billie-Marie and partner Michael Kennedy were able to take their daughters home to Monarch Close in Walderslade.

Billie-Marie, 26, said: “We finally walked out of the hospital on the April 30, carrying two car seats with our beautiful tiny miracles wrapped up inside. Nothing can describe that feeling, it was truly amazing.”

Now the couple are looking forward to spending Christmas with the girls and son Frankie, aged four.

Billie-Marie added: “Our girls are now 10 months old and doing fantastic. They have amazing little personalities and are our true little miracles. Our son is a brilliant big brother and adores his little sisters - it’s so lovely to see their bond.

“We can’t wait to spend Christmas at home altogether and ending a traumatic 2014 on a high. We feel truly blessed and thank our lucky stars every single day.

“We would like to thank our consultant Dr Ranjit Akolekar, his team, staff that looked after me at Medway hospital while I was poorly and the Oliver Fisher Special Care Baby Unit for saving our beautiful girls.”